Survey reveals airport technology improves passenger emotions and satisfaction

The latest Passenger IT Trends Survey carried out by SITA, an air transport communications and IT provider, reveals airport technology is paving the way for improved passenger satisfaction.

In a survey carried out at the beginning of 2015, SITA investigated the connection between a passenger’s use of technology and their emotions to discover how air passengers around the world feel at every point of their journey.  

The recent Passenger IT Trends Survey was carried out across 17 countries, representing 76 percent of the world’s passenger traffic. Results reveal for the vast majority of passengers most steps of the journey were a positive experience and passengers were happiest using self-service.

Participants were asked to review each stage of their journey and identify their range of emotions at each nine stages of the journey from booking to bag collection.

Nigel Pickford, Director Market Insight, SITA, commented: “As passengers become more connected and airports more crowded the move to providing additional self-service continues. However, at SITA we wanted to get a better understanding of the connection between a passenger’s emotions at different stages of their journey and the technologies that have been used. Our survey shows that not only are passengers willing to use technology throughout their journey, but they have a clear preference to use their own technology when they have the choice.”

SITA’s survey shows that technology is playing an increasing role in the passenger journey. This year the proportion of passengers carrying smartphones has nudged up to 83 percent from 81 percent last year, while 15 percent travel with three mobile devices (mobile phone, tablet and laptop). And these ‘connected travellers’ are happiest when using their own devices throughout their journey.

Check-in was rated positively by 86 percent of passengers; however this figure rose to 97 percent when they used self-service check-in desks. Dedicated bag drops and self-service areas were also of preference with SITA estimating 31 percent of passengers choosing this option in 2016, up 11 percent on this year.

Passenger satisfaction was at its lowest during the security process, and to a lesser extent bag collection.

Nigel Pickford added: “Armed with the knowledge that technology helps passengers to experience positive emotions while traveling, airlines and airports now have the opportunity to look at security and baggage collection to see how technology can further improve the passenger experience. For example, increasing the use of automated border control kiosks and gates may reduce the anxiety passengers feel at this stage of the journey.”